How Can We Tell If We Are Really Here?
by NotSoBrightandShiny
Summary: They met in a bar, and again in the work place, but can the romance of the century overcome all the obstacles that the fates throw at them? Derek and Meredith.. the laughter, the tears, the journey.
1. It Begins

**Chapter One.**

Seattle Grace hospital, hectic, crazy, intense and hellish, especially if it's your first day as an intern.

Meredith Gray walked through the halls of the hospital, surrounded by the bustle of the day to day exams and the not so daily trauma's. Her first day and she was terrified, not that she would show it. She was Ellis Gray's daughter and no daughter of hers would show fear.

Lost in her thought's she bumped into a stranger and knocked the charts he was holding to the floor,

"Oh my god I'm so sorry, I just.. and I'm .. oh sorry" she rambled helping to pick the papers up from the floor.

"That's quite alright, no harm done" replied the stranger.

Meredith looked up at the mans face as she was handing back the papers that fell from the chart, suddenly it hit her..

"Derek!"

"Hi Meredith, you work here?"

She blushed and continued to stare at him.

"I um yes I work here, first day, intern. You work here?!" she struggled to get the words out. Her mind continued to flash back to the night before.

_Sitting at the bar, alone she had never felt so content, although she was alone and had just moved to Seattle from Boston, she was calm or maybe it was just the alcohol running through her system. Tequila was her poison. Lost in her own thoughts she never noticed the gorgeous man sit down next to her, _

"_Hi is this seat taken?" _

_Startled from her thoughts, she looked up at the handsome stranger, _

"_oh um no its not"_

"_Im Derek" He held out his hand to shake hers with a big smile on his face, _

_She shook his hand but was unable to form any words, he was gorgeous with his startling blue eyes and his dreamy smile, she felt lost in his gaze, _

"_This is where you would tell me your name?"_

"_Oh um sorry Im Meredith" _

_She smiled, she felt so goofy, her cheeks burned and she downed another shot of tequila to ease her embarrassment._

"_So are you from Seattle? Iv just moved here and maybe you could show me around some time?" _

_She was still struggling to form a normal sentence in her head, _

"_Oh um no I've just moved here from Boston, the furthest I have ventured is to the harbour, they have ferryboats."_

_They have ferryboats! great Mer you couldn't have found anything stupider to say. _

_He smiled and she felt herself melt, _

"_Ferryboats… really? I have a thing for ferryboats."_

"Meredith?"

She snapped back to reality

"Yeah?"

"Are you ok?"  
She wasn't at all sure if she was but she just smiled,

"Yeah um I'm fine just a shock bumping into you, literally, you work here?"

She wasn't sure if she managed to ask that before, she felt like her brain had just fallen out of the back of her head, his gaze was piercing as if he was looking for her soul.

"Yes I work here, just started today actually, although im and attending not an intern."

Great she thought, here I am making googly eyes at the new attending, im well on my way to earn the slut badge for this group of interns.

"ok well it was nice to see you again I guess, I have to go I have charts to finish."

She started walking away as fast as she could.

"Bye then"

He smiled after her … maybe Seattle wouldn't be as bad as he thought.


	2. The Interns, The Nazi and The Page!

Hey Guys, thanks so much for the reviews

**Hey Guys, thanks so much for the reviews! Hopefully I can make this story exciting enough for you to read D .. keep reviewing x**

**Chapter 2**

Sitting on the gurney she looked around at her fellow interns,

Christina Yang – fiery, feisty, one of the most sarcastic people Meredith has ever met

Izzie "Isabelle" Stevens – Caring, gorgeous, bright and shiny ..

George O'mally – Goofy, sweet, Izzie's new best friend

Alex Karev – 2 words… Evil Spawn.

They were all so different, but all so alike. First year interns grouped together to be tortured by the residents and attending's. It was hard, scary and new, treating patients it gave her such a high but the fear of losing one was great and constantly played at her mind.

"Uh! My patient in 2130 is such a pain, he has chronic gall stones but refuses to let me examine him!"

"Aw poor Bambi! Cant get his patient to be a good little boy, at least you have a patient im stuck charting with Karev think yourself lucky"

Meredith was brought back from her thoughts by Christina's and Georges quarrel.

"Don't call me Bambi! My name is George!"

Christina just scoffed and rolled her eyes,

"Georgey don't take everything so personal no wonder your not getting laid" Alex said laughing.

"Seriously, seriously! Evil spawn! Leave George alone!"

Typical thought Meredith, Izzie was always defending George, she acts like hes a little lost puppy. She went back to her thoughts…

He was here in this hospital, still is, Derek Sheperd. What was she going to do? Every time she spoke to him it was like word vomit she had no control over her brain, he must think she is a total goof.

"Grey, Yang, Stevens, O'Malley, Karev!"

"oh no" murmered Christina, "Here comes the nazi"

Meredith giggled.

"There are patients in the pit needing to be looked at, charts to be finished, post ops to be completed, trauma pages to be answered! And where are my interns? Out there being doctors making there resident happy? No, they are sitting having a tea party!"

They all jumped up at once and ran to where they needed to be, Meredith was on trauma pages today as she wandered along the hospital halls to the pit she thought about her resident.

Miranda Bailey, she was nicknamed the Nazi, supremely scary but one of the best surgical residents in the hospital. Even the Attendings where scared of her.

_beep… beep… beep!_

Oh god thought Meredith as she looked at her pager, she started running through the hallways as she approached the pit she heard screaming, all of a sudden Derek ran into her from behind.

"Whats happening in there Grey?"

"That's what I was just about to find out"


	3. The Trauma

Hi guys

**Hi guys! Sorry its been so long for an update iv been so busy lately, well here it is chapter 3 ) il try to update more regularly, review please, enjoy )**

**Chapter 3**

The screaming continued, Meredith felt cold paralysing fear run up her spine.

"Come on Grey lets see whats going on!" Derek shouted over the noise.

Meredith pushed through the doors at a run and there it was… the trauma she had been called to.

"Oh god!"

A woman was on her knee's leaning over a young boy maybe about 14 screaming, he was bleeding heavily, he had been badly beaten but the worst injury was a knife protruding from the back of his head.

"Get a gurney over here! I want him on a monitor ASAP! Get me fluids and get him hooked up to them and call CT let them no im coming, Grey move your on this too!"

Derek barked orders at everyone around him, Meredith ran to his side but then looked back towards the woman she was still screaming covered in the young boys blood, and it was then that Meredith realised she was injured too.

"Oh god, OH GOD DEREK!! She's been stabbed, get another gurney!"

Meredith ran over to her, the woman was standing up trying to follow the young boy, just as Meredith reached her she started to fall to the floor, Meredith just managed to catch her,

"Where's that gurney?! I need a pressure bandage, come on move people!"

Her mind was racing, she had to save this woman, she couldn't let her die, but she was only an intern what could she do? She was terrified but she couldn't allow her fear to take over she had to be strong, she had to be the doctor her mother expected her to be, she had to be just as good.

She got the woman onto the gurney and held the pressure bandage in place,

"Call Dr. Bailey down here now this woman is going to need surgery!"

In the trauma room Meredith barked orders about medicine, procedures and continued to shout at everyone around her,

"Where is Dr Bailey?!"

"Iv paged her, she's on her way" a young nurse replied.

Suddenly the woman's stats dropped, she flat lined. Meredith grabbed the paddles from the young nurses hands,

"Charge to 200..!"

"charged"

Meredith placed the paddles on the woman's chest,

"CLEAR"

A shock ran through the woman's body, Meredith kept her eyes on the heart moniter screen, just as Dr. Bailey came running through the door,

_beep, beep, beep_

"We've got a pulse" exclaimed the young nurse.

Meredith shrank back, all the colour drained from her face,

"Grey what happened?!"

"The woman came in with a young boy, the young boy had been badly beaten with a knife sticking out of his head, it was only when the woman attemped to stand up we relised that she had been stabbed, she was giving eppy, fluids to keep her hydrated and I was holding a pressure bandage on her wound, she flatlined I shocked her and you appeared."

"Ok I'll take over from here Grey"

Meredith walked from the trauma room, and to the front of the hospital where she stood outside in the rain, letting the cold wash over her. She felt lost swimming in a sea of despair, the adrenaline that was corsing through her body was wearing off and she felt as if she was drowining. She didn't feel real, a ghost of her former self, she always thought she would be ready, to be a doctor, for life, to deal with trauma's but was she really? Will the woman survive. She hoped so, but she still couldn't find her self.

"Meredith?"

She heard a voice calling her name, but she couldn't move,

"Meredith, are you ok? Meredith?!"

She felt herself giving into the darkness, How could she tell if she was really here?


End file.
